A Christmas Carol: Hal
by SamiAlyse
Summary: The classic Christmas Carol story with a twist! Instead of old scrooge, its our lord Harry!
1. Chapter 1: The Ghost of an old friend

Disclaimer: The Characters, that i did not make up, belong to Toby Whithouse/ bbc. I do not own those characters. Any mistakes i make are my own.

1955

The underground room was dark and dirty. Hal scanned the faces of those who filled the room. It was mostly vampires, with a few scantily clad human girls with bloody bandages on their necks. In the middle of the room was a large cage where the evening's festivities would be playing out.

It was two days before Christmas, and the vampires had a way of celebrating it in their own style. The main event of their Christmas celebration was a dog fighting tournament. This would continue over the course of the next 2 days with the champion fight on Christmas Eve.

Hal sat in a chair that looked out across the room of vampires. He sat next to the great Mr. Snow. The two of them together were a force to be reckoned with. They were worshiped and pampered, but above all else, they were feared. According to those who new them, Hal, or Lord Harry as he was more formally called, and Mr. Snow were pure evil.

"Harry," Mr. Snow whispered in to Hal's ear, "We are running low on drink." He motioned to the almost empty decanter that sat on the table in front of them. "Why do you go get us more from our newest blood bag, Bethany".

Without a word, Hal picked up the decanter and made his way through the crowed of vampires. He stopped in front of one of the human girls.  
She was small and scared looking.

"Bethany?" Hal said in the most charming voice he could muster. The small girl nodded her head. "Would you please come with me, darling?" He placed his arm around her sullen shoulders and led her through the crowd. They made their way to an empty room that was acting as what appeared to be a wine cellar. Hal turned the girl to face him, placing both of his hands on her hips. For a moment he examined her face as he saw tears began to roll from her eyes.

"You're going to kill me aren't you?" She sobbed.  
Hal let a small glimmer of remorse flash across his face before he nodded and let his eyes turn to black.

He bit into her neck at the perfect angle to kill her in one bite. He feed from her for a moment before remembering he was supposed to be filling the decanter. Just as he was about to pull away, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see an old, familiar face.

"Hal," the man before him spoke calmly. "My you've changed." Hal's face turned white. The man before him was an old friend and mentor. He would have been delighted to see him, if the last time they'd spoke, Hal hadn't driven a stake through this mans heart.

"Charles?" Hal spoke, not believing what he saw.

"Yes Henry, lets please skip the part about me being dead, believe I know." Charles let out a small laugh that sent chills down Hal's spine.

"Why-" Hal started.

"Why am I here? I am here to warn you."

"Warn me of what?"

"You have changed so much my baby boy." Charles took Hal's face between his hands. He had been the one to turn Hal into a vampire, "I remember when the thought of killing someone made you sick. And now you are this." Charles took a deep breath, knowing that what he had to tell Hal was hard, "You are evil Henry. That is why I am here."

Hal worked his face from between Charles hands. "What are you saying Charles?"

"Tomorrow night Henry, you will be visited by three ghosts. But both the ghosts of lost souls without their door, but ghosts the likeness you have never seen."

Hal shook his head in confusion and disbelief. "This is crazy, Charles. I am dreaming. You are dead."

"I am so sorry my boy, but this is what has to be done" Charles kissed Hal's forehead before disappearing into thin air.

Hal sat for a moment trying to sort out what just happened. He filled the decanter as he pushed it out of his mind and made his way back to Mr. Snow's side.


	2. Chapter 2: The Ghost of Christmases Past

Hal lay awake listening to the clock tick. He hadn't slept last night and it seemed to be escaping him yet again tonight. He couldn't stop thinking of Charles and what he had said. Hal didn't believe for a moment that it was real, but there was this tiny part deep down inside of him that was terrified that it actually happened and what he said was actually going to happen. Hal started when the clock began to toll midnight. He counted the chimes and calmed when they finished.

Suddenly his room began to quake. His bed shook as he heard the things off the side table crash to the ground. The lights flickered. The tremors ceased and at the end of his bed stood a small girl dressed in white. Hal blinked his eyes trying to make her go away, but she didn't. Her small Blue eyes stared strait in to his. Hal slowly climbed from his bed without breaking eye contact. He made his way to where she stood. Letting his eyes drop for a moment he noticed her feet didn't touch the ground. She held out a dainty hand to Hal.  
"Come with me Henry" a meek voice said to him. He knew it was the girl's voice even though, her lips had never parted.

He took her hand and the world around him softened and vanished into a thin mist. Before he knew it he was standing in the middle of a corridor line with doors. The small spirit girl led Hal to a door that looked very old and tattered, and very familiar to Hal. She motioned for him to open it. He took a deep breath knowing what was on the other side. He placed his hand on the knob and pushed the door open.

On the other side of this door was the brothel where he had grown up. One of the girls entered with a small boy tugging at her hand. That boy was Hal.

"Now you stay here Hal," the girl spoke to the boy in a soft tender voice. "Don't come out, no matter what."

"But its Christmas," the small boy spoke with a grin on his face. "You said I'd be able to be with you on Christmas"

"I know, I did Hal. And you will, as soon as I'm finished. Now stay here, be good" she left the room pulling the door closed behind her.

Young Hal placed his face on the floor and looked through the crack at the bottom of the door. He saw the girl talking to a man. Young Hal knew what would happen next, but he didn't look away and the man began to caress and kiss the girl.

Hal watched himself spy through the crack, but when he remembered what was about to unfold before that poor boy's eyes it was too late.

The girl began to scream. He remembered watching her fight as the man strangled her with his bare hands. Hal desperately wanted to run over and pull his child self from the crack, but the ghost girl who had brought him here held him back.

The child before him screamed and cried but he was helpless to save one of his mothers. One of the other girls threw the door of the room where the young boy cried open. Taking him up in her arms. The open door revealed the blood covered body of the girl he had just watch die. This was the first of the girls to go and the first of the many people Hal would watch die.

Hal looked to the young ghost, with tear stained eyes. "Why have you brought me here?" He scolded. "Who are you and what is this?"

The girl looked into Hal's eyes for a moment and a calmness overwhelmed the seething vampire. "I am the ghost of Christmases Past". Her sweet voice filled Hal's ears. "I have brought you here to help you. Now come along we have somewhere else to be". She led him through the door and with a flash of light they were back in the corridor.

"This time you can pick." She spoke with a small grin on her face.

Hal walked down the corridor and examined the doors. The hall seemed to go on forever. He walked further down trying to find a door with perhaps a better scene on the other side. He stopped at a door and knew this was the one he had to go through. He looked back at the girl. She nodded her head. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

What Hal saw before him took him back. This room was dark and dank. In the room were three people, Hal, Charles, and a small girl who was dead and bloody on the floor. Hal was crying as Charles comforted him in a way that only he could.

"Pick your sorry ass up off the floor!" Charles shouted. "She's dead, yes we know. You can't keep crying every time they die." Hal looked up in disgust at Charles. This girl had been different. She screamed. But not in the same way as the others had. The screams that came out of this poor girl's mouth pierced deep into whatever soul he had left. The girl's body was on the floor with her bright blue eyes still open and her face wearing an expression that Hal would see every night when he went to sleep and every morning when he awoke.

"How dare you!" Hal hissed. His tears turning to tears of rage. "How dare you do this to me! You had no right! You should have let me die." Hal lunged for Charles.

Charles took a step side to avoid the angry vampire bolting toward him.  
"Don't for get Harry, I warned you of what it would do to you and you still said yes." He paused and let Hal, who and thrown himself into the wall, stand up. Charles calmly approached him. "You begged me, Harry my child."

Hal was now seething rage. He rushed to the other side of the room where a wooden chair lay toppled on the floor. He broke a leg off the chair and gripped it tight in his hand. "You want me to be a heartless monster? Fine." He took a few steps toward Charles. "But be careful what you wish for." Hal was inches from Charles. "You know, I never thanked you."

"Thanked me for what? You were just scolding me for making you a vampire!"

"I never thanked you for showing me how to make my way up in the world." He aimed the broken chair leg at Charles's heart. "Kill or be killed." Hal plunged it in to Charles's chest. "And one more thing," he said glaring into Charles's shocked eyes, "Happy Christmas." He gave the stake a twist and Charles turned to dust right before him. Dropping the stake, Hal ran from the room and didn't look back.

After watching what had just unfolded, Hal was drained. He made his way to the pile of ashes. "He was the best friend I'd ever had." The girl's body still lay on the floor. Hal walked over to in and knelt down beside it. He started to close her eyes but stopped. His heart skipped a beat. Quickly, he shut her eyes and made his way to the door.

Once back in the corridor, Hal to took the hand of the ghost girl in his. "I'm so sorry."

The girl looked at Hal with understanding eyes. She nodded her head. Opening her mouth she spoke, "No, you're not." Her face turned to the expression that had been burned into Hal's mind for 300 years then everything went black.

Hal awoke with a start back in his bed. As he shot up he heard the faintest echo of the girl's voice. "Atleast, not yet."


End file.
